Today I've been listening to some kick*** Americana music on 92.1 FM, Radio New Braunfels.

While I'm talking about americana/old-school country music, be sure and check out the Americana Music Association.
posted by J.M. Branum at 6:07 PM | link

From the Hightower Lowdown in the Austin Chronicle:

The 'Rebate and Switch' Tax Scam


Question: What kind of tax "cut" actually will leave you owing more money to the IRS next April?


Answer: George W. Bush's widely-ballyhooed, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, $300 tax rebate. Bush spent several million of our tax dollars on prenotification letters mailed to eligible households, telling people what a big favor he had done for "America's working families," and that they should expect a check soon.
Next he flew around the country at our expense to hold photo-op press conferences where he handed out blown-up mock checks of $300 to people, like he was some sort of big, pink, Easter Bunny delivering free candy to everyone. Then the actual checks were mailed, only the Treasury was short of cash due to the economic downturn we're experiencing under Bush, so George had to borrow $28 billion from the Social Security trust fund to cover his shameless political ploy.


But the biggest surprise for many Americans will be their discovery that Bush's $300 checks are a classic case of what the Libertarian Party has dubbed "rebate and switch." The checks we're now getting from the IRS are not a rebate on taxes we've already paid, but an advance on any refund we expect to get from the IRS after we file our tax returns next April. Let's say, for simplicity's sake, that you're due to get a refund of $300 next year. Instead, though, you'll get zero, since IRS will deduct that $300 Smiling George mailed to you this summer from any refund you're due next year.


This is because Bush's "rebates" are a bookkeeping gimmick. Despite the hoopla, he didn't lower anyone's tax rates this year, so we still owe the same, including the $300 he "advanced" us this summer.


Bush giveth ... then he taketh away.

posted by J.M. Branum at 6:01 PM | link

From today's NY Times:

• Oklahoma Prosecutor to Seek Death for Bombing
  
• Getting an Early Jump on College: The Bard High School Early College in Brooklyn opened with 260 students.
  
• In Coffin-Making, an Abbey Finds Fiscal Rebirth: Aging Trappist monks in Iowa have found new work.
  
• Music Stars Complain of Stringent Contracts
  

posted by J.M. Branum at 3:43 PM | link

On the subject of things happening in Austin, please pray for our city on Sunday. The "Reverend" Fred Phelps and his band of nuts is coming to Austin to picket at University Baptist Church this Sunday. Phelps is the man behind the hate-website www.godhatesfags.com and is an embarrasment to all true followers of Christ. I for one plan on attending University Baptist this Sunday at 11 a.m. as a way of defying the "Reverend Phelps" and encourage you to do the same.

Here is a copy of the flyer from Phelp's group that talks about their Austin protest - WARNING - This flyer is very offensive.
posted by J.M. Branum at 3:11 PM | link

My friend Brooke Axtell is playing tonight at Momo's (on west 6th above Katz's deli) at 10 p.m. If you're in Austin, come to the show. It should be good. (BTW, I'm working as a pedi-cab driver tonight. If you're downtown and need a lift to or from her show, give me a ring on my cell phone at 576-5620 and I'll pick you up and give you a free ride. (I can carry up to four.)
posted by J.M. Branum at 12:36 PM | link

PDF file - invitation to join the Society of Iconographers. Also website will be up at www.iconographers.org
posted by J.M. Branum at 11:37 PM | link

Molly Ivins' new column explains some reasons why I'm a social libertarian, but not an economic libertarian.
posted by J.M. Branum at 10:25 PM | link

More linkslutting!!!

Here's the latest interesting links from blogger.com's "blogs of note" and "recently updated blogs"... (I'll add comments on them later.)

• http://tl.blogspot.com/
  
• http://www.brainstormsandraves.com
  
• http://www.jish.nu/vox/
  
• http://meuchapa.blogspot.com/
  
• http://www.njguy.com/#5460167
  
• http://babblebook.blogspot.com/
  

posted by J.M. Branum at 3:51 PM | link

Here are some more links on the relationship between the Christian faith and the arts...

International Society of Christian Artists
Imagejournal.org
Mara & Rebecca's Art Mission site
Sacredicons.com - the Byzantine Icon Studio of George and Diana Voyajolu
www.icons.org.uk
Rik Berry Gallery
www.iconwrite.org
Literate Soul
Artsreformation.com

posted by J.M. Branum at 10:38 PM | link

Attention all bloggers... make your life easier. Download Blogbuddy

If you enjoy art on spiritual themes, check out The Art Concordance
posted by J.M. Branum at 10:27 PM | link

Here's some more links for those of you who choose to not only be media consumers, but rather be media producers:

MediaRights.org: Camcorders in Activists' Hands: Tools for Change

Guardian.co.uk: Good evening, here is the real news by Paul O'Connor

Austinresistance.net: The lastest from a group that is trying to free the airwaves of Austin,TX and surrounding areas

posted by J.M. Branum at 5:13 PM | link

Today's articles of note:

MSNBC: Death of a Small Town - Even the mayor is moving on in Bisbee, North Dakota, the next ‘rural ghetto’ victim - I wonder what the answer is, if any. My own roots go back to rural Oklahoma, but I myself can't imagine living like my grandparents did two miles from the nearest neighbors. Maybe telecommuting will change all of this?

NY Times: If Oak malady moves east, many trees could die - Another sad story. It sounds like Texas needs to set up road blocks to disenfect all of the yuppies coming here from California so our beautiful Live Oaks won't be destroyed.

NY Times: The map that named America may now call it home

Pirateradio.about.com: The latest news on the Pacifica radio controversy
posted by J.M. Branum at 4:59 PM | link

Gino's Live Journal has an amazing rant that is worth reading...

IF THERE'S ANYTHING YOU EVER READ IN THIS STUPID JOURNAL, READ THIS. I TYPED IT FOR YOU!.


Yeah, so bleeding, inherent inequalities and injustices scream at me to do this. So here it is. If you read my journal, this might seem slightly out of the norm, but hear it all out. I’m very passionate about this entire subject and it sickens me that it all goes on without most of us even knowing it.


Remember: Ignorance and apathy. Those are their power.


Firstly, some of you might not be familiar with a lot of these concepts, so I’m going to try to explain this as simply and painlessly as possible. Capitalism is the economic system we live under. In other words, the system of the mighty DOLLAR. Our lives, for the most part, revolve around it. The United States of America is a world-renown exploiter and force-asserter. Our fingers reaching out into every third world country imaginable. Our tax dollars back everything from providing arms for paramilitary units in Mexico, to
releasing devastating fungi in Colombia, my home country, that devastate the ecosystem in the name of $. All of our actions are to ‘protect national interests’. National interests are money... and we will do all necessary to prevent the poor from getting it.


Under Capitalism, a prosperous few (The United States of America) or 6% of the total world population, owns the means of production. (e.g. factories, farms, lands, workers) The capitalists owning these things, are able to exploit the lower class brutally. People, just like you and me, earn as little as $0.10 cents an hour in the third world, sowing clothes for big corporations in the USA. The old cry that 'there will always be poor' tells me that we can make a difference and stop the systematic rape of their labor, because in the current system, these people lead horribly difficult lives. Working 70 hour weeks, not even making enough money to be above the poverty line. They're too poor to be poor. Fathers and mothers, cannot feed the mouths of their children. Were they to ask for a raise, they'd be fired, or worse, killed. Coca Cola murdered many factory workers in Colombia when they tried to organize to demand higher wages. The inherent inequalities, here, (a pair of Nike’s going for well over fifty dollars) begs the question. Where does all the extra money go to? If the workers making it only get a dollar a day, who gets all this extra money? The rich, greedy swine, known as the capitalists here in the US.


THIS IS DEAD WRONG.


Our corporate-sponsored media news and television hides these horrible facts, so do not be desensitized about all this crap! Take action with people who do care, people that have compassion for people, (yes, real people, real families, real children) to fight this infectious sore enveloping the world. The United States of America, is wrong in so many ways, I could type a thousand pages more, BUT I’ll simply address this one area for now.


I’ll leave you with a few hard-hitting injustices.


Disney (yes, our wonderful Disney) pays dirt for young girls in Haiti to sow Pocahontas pajamas.


Starbuck’s (yes, the great place we all hang out at after church) gets in on the exploitation too! 4% of Starbuck’s coffee plantations even have schools for their children. This screams that Starbuck’s pays such low wages, that children are forced to slave away alongside their parents so that Starbuck’s can get their profit!


LASTLY, The USA provided arms, backed with funds, and strategically directed orders through local leaders in East Timor, systematically massacring 200,000. Never hear that in your history books.

posted by J.M. Branum at 5:01 PM | link

Sorry to not post anything for a couple of days, but I've been working a lot at my job as a pedi-cab driver.

Here's an interesting story from MSNBC.com: Cannabis spray helps pain suffering - It seems so cruel to deny marijuana to those who would be helped by it.
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:34 PM | link